…in the Senate, Webb was a “climate curmudgeon,” [who worked to undermine Presidential authority to negotiate climate treaties, fought against the Environmental Protection Agency, etc.]…And on climate change, by far the most monumental environmental issue, Webb may be little better than the Republican Party to which he once belonged.

Webb has emerged as a major pain in the ass for Democratic leaders on climate issues

As Ben Adler put it,

it’s a problem that Webb sucks on climate change. The next president has to be a climate hawk. We’re rapidly running out of time to stave off the worst effects of warming.

As many others did — especially members of the Raising Kaine ‘community’ — I worked to get Webb elected. On my own dime, for example, I created and printed several thousand copies of a two pager outlining Webb’s biography and why he merited support/being elected. It was a positive biography message that I distributed from ‘Draft Webb’ timeframe into the general election. When flying out of Dulles, for example, I would arrive an hour early and put this on 100s of cars in the parking lot (believe that this totaled more than 5000). And …

Jim Webb was a wonderful option compared to George Allen.

He is a brilliant writer. He has served his nation. And, his intellect can be engaging. And, I do believe that he is principled. And ….

One of the main reasons that I felt comfortable (even compelled) to take my time to help elect Jim Webb was my respect for his intellect and a belief that he would be open minded to listen and assimilate information about issues where he had focused little attention in the past — such as energy and climate.

However …

He did not just disappoint me as my Senator but I felt betrayed.

On energy & environmental issues, he was — and remains — arrogantly oblivious to the serious challenges we face and the opportunities before us.

Where is he on Keystone XL? Where is he on fracking? On the Environmental Protection Agency? On …

While Jim Webb was a marvelous option compared to Allen and would be far better than anyone I expect that the Republican Party will nominate, it is hard to imagine that he will be the best option in the Democratic Party primary.

There is no way that he merits our support for the Democratic nomination without his showing a serious reevaluation of his perspective and objectives on environmental and energy issues.

I do believe that Jim Webb has the intellectual capacity and honesty to be able to learn from actual experts, assimilate what he learns, and come to a substantive understanding of climate change/climate disruption/climate chaos risks and the very real opportunities that can come from climate change mitigation (related) investments.

Jim Webb certainly has the capacity to learn and assimilate such material into his Weltanschauung and to become a leader to bring America toward a sensible energy and climate policy. Sadly, he has shown no indication of a willingness to do so to date to me and others. As Lowell Feld put it,

Sadly (and it truly is sad for me, as someone who led the “Draft James Webb” effort and who worked for his campaign), it doesn’t seem that he has much if any understanding – or even curiosity to learn – about energy and environmental issues.

We simply cannot afford to have a President who is indifferent to climate change issues and is against the very basic concepts of the necessity and value of environmental regulations.

The only thing I might add is how dramatic the contrast is between Webb’s lovey-dovey stance on coal when he was in the Senate; and the super-harsh words he wrote in his 2004 book, “Born Fighting,” about the coal industry:

The ever hungry industrialists had discovered that West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia sat atop one huge vein of coal. And so the rape began. The people from the outside showed up with complicated contracts that the small-scale cattle raisers and tobacco farmers could not fully understand, asking for “rights” to mineral deposits they could not see, and soon they were treated to a sundering of their own earth as the mining companies ripped apart their way of life, so that after a time the only option was to go down into the hole and bring the Man his coal, or starve. The Man got his coal, and the profits it brought when he shipped it out. They got their wages, black lung, and the desecration of their land.